Using a Mortgage Advisor or finding your own products?
Discussion
Hello,
I'm after a mortgage and coudl do with some input into the best way of achieving the best deal. I had thought that the general consensus was to use a broker, however I've spoken to a few people about it and the majority said that they'd managed to find a better deal than thei broker had managed, so now I'm wondering if it's worth speaking to a broker in the first place.
I'm pretty clued up and have spreadsheeted our income, expenditure and mortgage costs based on rates, overpayments etc, so I'm happy that I can work out which deals are better than others when I find the deals.
We would likely be looking for an offset mortgage, as we expect to be able to have significant savings that we canuse to reduce the interst part of our mortgage payments and increase the capital element. As an example, using an offset we can get a 25 year repayment mortgage paid off in 10 years or less using an offset, which is the main appeal. Offsets seem less popular, so maybe a broker is going to be mroe useful finding the best product for us?
I don't know if my circumstances are relevant tot he above question, but rough numbers are £100k deposit and LTV ratio of about 60% with combined income of £60k a year.
Lastly, anyone able to recommend lenders that are worth looking at based on the above? I'm going to get a rate from First Direct and I am looking at moving all our banking over to Handlesbanken when we open a joint account, so I'm going to speak to them at the weekend.
Thanks!
I'm after a mortgage and coudl do with some input into the best way of achieving the best deal. I had thought that the general consensus was to use a broker, however I've spoken to a few people about it and the majority said that they'd managed to find a better deal than thei broker had managed, so now I'm wondering if it's worth speaking to a broker in the first place.
I'm pretty clued up and have spreadsheeted our income, expenditure and mortgage costs based on rates, overpayments etc, so I'm happy that I can work out which deals are better than others when I find the deals.
We would likely be looking for an offset mortgage, as we expect to be able to have significant savings that we canuse to reduce the interst part of our mortgage payments and increase the capital element. As an example, using an offset we can get a 25 year repayment mortgage paid off in 10 years or less using an offset, which is the main appeal. Offsets seem less popular, so maybe a broker is going to be mroe useful finding the best product for us?
I don't know if my circumstances are relevant tot he above question, but rough numbers are £100k deposit and LTV ratio of about 60% with combined income of £60k a year.
Lastly, anyone able to recommend lenders that are worth looking at based on the above? I'm going to get a rate from First Direct and I am looking at moving all our banking over to Handlesbanken when we open a joint account, so I'm going to speak to them at the weekend.
Thanks!
I've used both
There are rates / deals only available to brokers and so you need to go through a broker for these, but Offsets are will be linked to current / savings accounts for the particular bank that is offering them, and so you are limited to those banks that you are happy to have accounts with. Unless the broker has a different deal with them, its then better to go direct.
Brokers do take the pain out of the paperwork though
There are rates / deals only available to brokers and so you need to go through a broker for these, but Offsets are will be linked to current / savings accounts for the particular bank that is offering them, and so you are limited to those banks that you are happy to have accounts with. Unless the broker has a different deal with them, its then better to go direct.
Brokers do take the pain out of the paperwork though
Cheers, HSBC look good at 3.29% 5 year fix or 3.79% 7 year fix, but they don't appear to offer an Offset. I'd need to run a cost comparison taking into account regular savings and interest earned at 2% (at a guess) to see whether the low rate is worth not being able to offset or not.
paulrockliffe said:
Cheers, HSBC look good at 3.29% 5 year fix or 3.79% 7 year fix, but they don't appear to offer an Offset. I'd need to run a cost comparison taking into account regular savings and interest earned at 2% (at a guess) to see whether the low rate is worth not being able to offset or not.
Just got a two year tracker Offset deal with First Direct @ 3.79% they had two options, this rate with no fees or a lower rate with fees. Cost was the same over two years so I went for the fee free optionBurrow01 said:
paulrockliffe said:
Cheers, HSBC look good at 3.29% 5 year fix or 3.79% 7 year fix, but they don't appear to offer an Offset. I'd need to run a cost comparison taking into account regular savings and interest earned at 2% (at a guess) to see whether the low rate is worth not being able to offset or not.
Just got a two year tracker Offset deal with First Direct @ 3.79% they had two options, this rate with no fees or a lower rate with fees. Cost was the same over two years so I went for the fee free optionThe whole process with them was painless. AIP in a phone call, forms filled in a few days later. Updates via text message when needed
Highly recommended.
Thanks, First Direct are part of HSBC aren't they? First Direct will do a 3 year fix at 3.8% on an Offset. Their offset is interest only, so in effect you have full control over how you choose to repay the capital and can have very low repayments if yo needed them at any point.
Is this usual for an offset? I think the others I've looked at include a repayment element as a matter of course. I also noticed that some of these include early repayment penalities, which seems a bit odd considering if I had the money to pay the mortgage off, it would be in the offset account so I wouldn't be paying any interest anyway. The only benefit to the bank I can see is that I might be tempted to blow the capital on a new car I suppose.
Tempted by 7 years at 4% though, with the idea of having most of the capital sat ready to pay off the mortgage at then end of the term. Will run some numbers based on earling 1.5% interest (after tax) on the savings rather than having them offset.
Keep the suggestions coming!
Is this usual for an offset? I think the others I've looked at include a repayment element as a matter of course. I also noticed that some of these include early repayment penalities, which seems a bit odd considering if I had the money to pay the mortgage off, it would be in the offset account so I wouldn't be paying any interest anyway. The only benefit to the bank I can see is that I might be tempted to blow the capital on a new car I suppose.
Tempted by 7 years at 4% though, with the idea of having most of the capital sat ready to pay off the mortgage at then end of the term. Will run some numbers based on earling 1.5% interest (after tax) on the savings rather than having them offset.
Keep the suggestions coming!
There seems to be myth that Brokers have exclusive access to dirt cheap products that are not available direct with lenders.
Yes there are quite often rates that are exclusive to brokers but conversely there are lots of rates that not available to Brokers at all (HSBC, First Direct etc).
If your financially savvy and have the spare time and inclination yes you can quite easily find a good deal. But how do you know that that is the best product available to you? I'm yet to see any comparison site that gives details of EVERY product available from EVERY provider. I have over 15,000 products on my sourcing system, but even then, thats not EVERY single product out there as a few will only deal directly with clients.
I would view using a broker as tapping into somebody's knowledge and experience of the market and that can potentially steer you clear of approaching a lender who wouldn't lend to you etc, rather than just thinking your going to get a better rate from them.
To get a broad spectrum of whats available, why not speak to a few brokers, a few lenders and then work out whats right for you.
PS: It's worth noting that there are poor Brokers out there too......
Yes there are quite often rates that are exclusive to brokers but conversely there are lots of rates that not available to Brokers at all (HSBC, First Direct etc).
If your financially savvy and have the spare time and inclination yes you can quite easily find a good deal. But how do you know that that is the best product available to you? I'm yet to see any comparison site that gives details of EVERY product available from EVERY provider. I have over 15,000 products on my sourcing system, but even then, thats not EVERY single product out there as a few will only deal directly with clients.
I would view using a broker as tapping into somebody's knowledge and experience of the market and that can potentially steer you clear of approaching a lender who wouldn't lend to you etc, rather than just thinking your going to get a better rate from them.
To get a broad spectrum of whats available, why not speak to a few brokers, a few lenders and then work out whats right for you.
PS: It's worth noting that there are poor Brokers out there too......
Sarnie said:
There seems to be myth that Brokers have exclusive access to dirt cheap products that are not available direct with lenders.
Yes there are quite often rates that are exclusive to brokers but conversely there are lots of rates that not available to Brokers at all (HSBC, First Direct etc).
If your financially savvy and have the spare time and inclination yes you can quite easily find a good deal. But how do you know that that is the best product available to you? I'm yet to see any comparison site that gives details of EVERY product available from EVERY provider. I have over 15,000 products on my sourcing system, but even then, thats not EVERY single product out there as a few will only deal directly with clients.
I would view using a broker as tapping into somebody's knowledge and experience of the market and that can potentially steer you clear of approaching a lender who wouldn't lend to you etc, rather than just thinking your going to get a better rate from them.
To get a broad spectrum of whats available, why not speak to a few brokers, a few lenders and then work out whats right for you.
PS: It's worth noting that there are poor Brokers out there too......
Thanks, that's useful. It's not my thinking that a broker can get access to a better rate, just that they should have a better idea where to go for the best rate and are more likely to find it. Which I tihnk is what you're saying. I didn't realise brokers were shut out by certain institutions either.Yes there are quite often rates that are exclusive to brokers but conversely there are lots of rates that not available to Brokers at all (HSBC, First Direct etc).
If your financially savvy and have the spare time and inclination yes you can quite easily find a good deal. But how do you know that that is the best product available to you? I'm yet to see any comparison site that gives details of EVERY product available from EVERY provider. I have over 15,000 products on my sourcing system, but even then, thats not EVERY single product out there as a few will only deal directly with clients.
I would view using a broker as tapping into somebody's knowledge and experience of the market and that can potentially steer you clear of approaching a lender who wouldn't lend to you etc, rather than just thinking your going to get a better rate from them.
To get a broad spectrum of whats available, why not speak to a few brokers, a few lenders and then work out whats right for you.
PS: It's worth noting that there are poor Brokers out there too......
I think my girlfriend has access to a pretty decent broker through work, so she is speaking to them this week.
Cheers
paulrockliffe said:
Thanks, that's useful. It's not my thinking that a broker can get access to a better rate, just that they should have a better idea where to go for the best rate and are more likely to find it. Which I tihnk is what you're saying. I didn't realise brokers were shut out by certain institutions either.
I think my girlfriend has access to a pretty decent broker through work, so she is speaking to them this week.
Cheers
Yep there are a few lenders who only deal directly to clients. The main reason for this is that they want to be the ones who provide all of the additional products such as Life Insurance, Critical Illness Cover, Buildings Insurance and income Protection. The down side to this to the client is that they are being recommended products from ONE provider only rather than from the entire market. This leads to people being sold innappropriate, extortionately expensive and piss poor policies....particularly HSBC.I think my girlfriend has access to a pretty decent broker through work, so she is speaking to them this week.
Cheers
paulrockliffe said:
Thansk for the explanation. Do I need to factor in that some of those provisions will be mandatory requirements for a mortgage? Obviously the building will be insured, so that's fine, but will I have to pay for things like Critical Illness cover if I want the money?
Cheers
Your only legally obliged to ensure that the Building is insured.Cheers
Anything else will come down to your desire to financially protect people/things in your life. Or not as it may be, but they certainly can't make you take anything out.
I would highly recommend Furness Building Society for rates and personal customer service. Been with them a while now and remortgaged to lower rates a few times. Wonderful, helpful people. You usually get to talk to the same person all the time. Feels very personal. They don't often get business through brokers, and aren't very well known.
Worth a look. I'm not connected, just a very happy customer.
Worth a look. I'm not connected, just a very happy customer.
VoziKaoFangio said:
I would highly recommend Furness Building Society for rates and personal customer service. Been with them a while now and remortgaged to lower rates a few times. Wonderful, helpful people. You usually get to talk to the same person all the time. Feels very personal. They don't often get business through brokers, and aren't very well known.
Worth a look. I'm not connected, just a very happy customer.
I've done quite a lot of business through them. Great people but a bit stuck in the 90's with their requirements lists and turn around times.Worth a look. I'm not connected, just a very happy customer.
Bizarrely I've even had a few people not want to take a mortgage out with them because they'd never heard of them......
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